Two-thirds of all technical losses sustained by the energy industry are caused by the theft of electricity, President Kuchma declared at a sitting of the National Security and Defense Council on February 14. Mr. Kuchma believes such illicit use of energy is mostly done by business structures.
Addressing the critical situation in the energy sector, the chief executive noted the low level of monetary payments for electricity. Last year, less than 8% of power supplies were paid for with money, the rest was in terms of mutual settlements and barter deals, reports Interfax Ukraine, referring to the presidential press service.
Mr. Kuchma focused on the problem of intermediaries, stressing that there were too many of them on the energy market. “By getting hold of and monopolizing this market, countless intermediaries are making superprofits, looting energy facilities and enterprises,” he noted, adding that in 1999 nuclear power plants provided such intermediaries with UAH 1.5 billion worth of electricity at a one-third discount. “The result of this so-called partnership amounts to some UAH 700 million lost by the budget,” stressed the President.
Mr. Kuchma said mass transgressions of the tax laws were a real plague in the energy sector. The latest inspections yielded UAH 450 million unaccounted for and payable to the budget.
The President demanded that law enforcement authorities “finally muster the courage” to combat crime and fiscal transgressions in this sector, and that the Cabinet revise work with the administrative staff in the field “forthwith and most essentially.” UNIAN reports that Leonid Kuchma instructed the General Prosecutor’s Office to carry out a full-scale inspection of the Ukrnafta public joint stock company and investigate the transfer of bombers to Russia on account of Ukraine’s natural gas debts.
